Dorsey-Walker’s Wait Is Almost Over

Courtesy: cyclones.com

Release: 06/21/2013

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AMES, Iowa – If you are looking for Sherron Dorsey-Walker you can probably find him at 1011 South Dakota Avenue in Ames, more commonly known as the Sukup Basketball Complex. The redshirt freshman doesn’t have many hobbies. Ask him how he spends his downtime and he doesn’t hesitate to tell you where his focus is.

Between jump shots and textbooks, there isn’t much time for anything else. And that is just fine to Dorsey-Walker, who was one of the top prospects out of Michigan as well as class valedictorian at Pershing High School in Detroit.

“I just like to work out and come to the gym,” the 6-4 guard said. “I try to keep a good focus on my school work, keep my grade point average up. That’s my focus. Basketball and school work are about it for me.”

That focus helped as Dorsey-Walker spent the 2012-13 season practicing, but not playing. With a number of experienced players in front of him, Dorsey-Walker instead focused on building his physique and honing his game, which he agreed needed a little fine tuning despite entering college as the 24th-best shooting guard in the Class of 2012.

Dorsey-Walker spent a lot of time with director of strength and conditioning Andrew Moser and head coach Fred Hoiberg.

“Coach Moser had me working hard, lifting every day trying to build my frame,” Dorsey-Walker said. “I came in at 172 pounds and am up to 200. It was good for me to concentrate on that.”

If you want to improve your jump shot, you can’t pick a better role model than Hoiberg, a former Iowa State and NBA sharpshooter. Hoiberg worked with Dorsey-Walker on his footwork, release and follow through in hopes of building consistency.

“I came to college with a tendency to shoot the ball and let go of my release quickly,” Dorsey Walker said. “Coach Hoiberg helped me with my follow through and also helped me get out of the habit of falling back on my shot. I go more straight up than I used to.”

The opportunity to train with and against experienced players like Chris Babb, Will Clyburn and Tyrus McGee was not lost on Dorsey-Walker either.

“I had a chance to learn a lot from Will, Babb and Tyrus last season,” he said. “They beat me up all year in practice and I had to fight back every day. It taught me a lot about competing at a high level.

“My development was about being consistent and getting stronger. You play against a guy like Chris Babb every day and you can’t help but improve. It was tough starting off but I started to get into the swing of things and learned a lot of things I can use next season.”

As much as the redshirt season helped Dorsey-Walker improve his fundamentals, he still feels that his biggest strength is one of the intangibles.

“My No. 1 strength is that I like to win,” Dorsey-Walker said. “I can play defense, I can score and get my teammates involved, but I am just the kind of person that wants to do anything to help our team win.”